analyst, richard wolffe. buzz feed correspondent, michael hastings. jody cantor of "the new york times" is author of "the obamas" now out in paper back, and "bloomberg business week" editor, josh. five years, seven months, and 13 days after mitt romney first began running for president, the candidate has realized he's actually running for president. and that being the president of the united states would actually mean being the president of the united states. at a fund-raiser last night in north carolina, romney said, "i was at a coal mine yesterday. a group of miners, about 2,000 people gathered and one with tears in his eyes. i mean, really emotional. he said, i need you to save my job and help my family. i need you to save my job. and it hit me how big the responsibility is." coinciding with his new comprehension, team romney is embarking on a new strategy. politico writes, "romney spent nearly a year talking about how obama is a nice guy who just doesn't understand how the economy works because he has no

private sector experience. but as a campaign grew more intense and the attacks more personal, romney dropped the idea that he has any admiration for obama and in its place is a description of obama as the purveyor of a campaign not worthy of the office." the retooled angry mitt romney version 2.0, asserted tuesday that president obama is running a campaign of division, hate, and anger. here's how the president responded to those accusations yesterday. >> we're going around the country talking about how do we put people back to work, how do we improve our schools, how do we make sure that we're producing american energy? you know, how do we lower our debt in a responsible way? and i don't think you or anybody who's been watching me campaign would suggest that in any way we have, you know, tried to divide the country. we've always tried to bring the country together. >> but if vitreal is the flavor of the day, the koch brothers

haven't gotten the memo yet. a tv ad they released today sticks to the nice guy in over his head script. >> i've seen zero interest in reducing spending. he inherited a bad situation, but he made it worse. >> i think he's a great person. i don't feel he is the right leader for our country, though. >> i still believe in hope and change, i just don't think obama is the way to go for that. >> the president has not earned re-election in 2012. >> richard wolffe -- >> yes, ma'am? >> are american voters going to buy this retooled romney message that obama wants to divide the country and has a heart filled with hate? >> well, for starters, it's not mitt romney 2.0. >> it's probably 6.0, 7.0. >> but, you know, they didn't have this nice line, it pains me to have to go after obama. he's such a nice guy, he's not up to the job. they didn't do that because they were trying to be nice. they did that because that's

what the focus groups say. that's why that ad looks like a focus group. they are just simply shooting with nice production values what they see when they do this focus groups or take the polling. the president has personal likability, favorability, that far outstrips his job performance. so you don't have to be a high paid strategic consultant, although it helps. you don't have to be one to say, this is where you should go with this, because it tracks with what the numbers are saying. is it convincing when mitt romney does it as opposed to when his superpac does it? that's what we don't know, because when his superpac was doing it, supremely successful, excuse me the crocodile tears. he ran a very negative campaign, he just pretended it was done over here. join when you do it yourself, it sounds different. the difference is, people don't know who mitt romney is, what he stands for. what they're hearing now is someone playing the refs, complaining about the other side and doesn't say what he stands for. >> then you see as you did in that clip that we showed, jody, the president and the first lady

sitting there, and if there's one thing the president does well, it is exude warmth and sort of charisma on camera and on the stump. so it seems that that message that team romney is sort of forwarding as of late, it rings hollow. i guess the other things in terms of strategy is one of the reasons, one of the focuses thus far has been the economy or an attempted focus on the part of republicans because if you look at the polling, a gallup bopollo not buy the president's handling of the economy. 36% approve. once you make this into a character assassination attempt, you take the focus off the economy. >> you do. what's striking to me of the clip we played of the president, is the president to some extent like mitt romney wants to have it both ways. he's alternating between being the above it all, nice guy president, but on the campaign trail yesterday he also openly mocked mitt romney. he was making dog on the roof jokes. >> let me just ask, does a

shameless joke tally with the contention or the accusation that the president is full of hate? >> no, no. >> those are fairly -- i would say that's maybe a false -- >> i just think we're seeing the divide in politics between on the one hand being a super competitive contender and being a sort of above it all presidential figure. but, you know, the thing that was so striking about romney's quote about reckoning with the president, it's no that he said anything terrible but it was so in a way refreshing to hear him really talk in an almost serious way about the grave responsibilities of the presidency. he still has to make an affirmative case that if this country elects him, the economy will actually get better. he said that again and again, but he hasn't given that much substance to it. he hasn't proven it. and that, i think, is the line he would really need to cross this summer if he's going to be successful. >> this summer is almost out, too, jodi. i do want to talk about the sort

of blowback or the analysis that this has become a -- this campaign season has gotten nastier than any other campaign season on record, and bring to your attention dana milbank writing in the "washington post," "what's different this time is the democrats are employing the same harsh tactics that have been used against them for so long with so much success. they've ceased their traditional response of assuming the fetal position when attacked and obama's campaign is giving as good as it gets and then some." >> i'm skeptical when anyone says this is the nastiest campaign ever. we hear that every time the campaigns start to go nasty. i think the key here is, the clintons were very successful. they always punched back. when the successful democrats are the ones that hit back. yesterday, i counted four shameless jokes. the obama campaign has tried to paint mitt romney as a bankster, some sort of corporate criminal hiding out in bermuda and what not. this is a pretty nasty campaign.

i'm all for nasty campaigns, more to write about. >> with that glib assessment, michael hastings, josh, you know, david axelrod was asked about this and gave a glib respornr respon response, look, it gives you more to report on. is this messaging, given where the republicans have been all along in expanding and contracting the truth? >> to give all the campaigns some credit, i think sometimes we in the media harkin back to a mythological era, where there was one message for the american people and the campaign stayed on it and nailed it and that candidate stood for that mes message. i don't think the messages the campaigns are sending out are mutually exclusive. there's a frame of reference the listener has to have to get the joke. the average person may not know the story. certainly the people up here do. when romney, when the koch

brothers have an ad out saying, we think he's a good person, we don't know if he can get the job done. there are. there's a large cohort of people for whom that message rings true. it's not contradictory to the romney message at the same time that says it's a hateful campaign. they're speaking to all these people. what i'm frankly amazed by is the shrewdness of the campaigns. i don't think -- i'm not here to clutch my pearls and say, oh my. >> speaking of the shrewdness of the campaign, mitt romney is having a rare press availability in greenville, south carolina. there's a white board there. he's presumably talking about medicare. let's take a listen. >> no change. the plan stays the same. no adjustments. no changes. no savings. the president's plan cuts medicare. excuse me. well, let's see. there we go. by $716 billion.

cut. in addition, the trustees of medicare estimate that approximately 4 million people will lose their coverage under medicare advantage. this is the plan they've chosen, the chose they prefer. some 4 million current seniors will lose their medicare advantage plan. and finally, the medicare actuary estimates that 15% of hospitals and nursing homes will stop taking medicare patients. so this is the president's plan. $716 billion cut. 4 million people losing medicare advantage. and 15% of hospitals and nursing homes not accepting medicare patients. the president's plan has a dramatic impact on today's seniors. people 55 years of age and older. now, there's another topic which is, i'll call it the next

generation. the generation after today's seniors. generations after today's seniors. and on the president's plan, this goes bankrupt. the medicare trustees have notified the president that the plan will go bankrupt, medicare part "a" in approximately 12 years. under the plan that i proposed, it is solvent. so the difference s in our medicare perspective could not be more stark and dramatic. i think as the people, as the seniors in america understand what the president's plan is doing to medicare, they're going to find it unacceptable and we're going to get a lot of support from people who understand that medicare should be protected for current seniors as well as for the next generation. >> that was mitt romney speaking to the press after landing in greenville, south carolina, with a white board, presumably a bid of transparency. richard wolffe, that to me

said -- >> that's just, you know, mitt romney 1.0 was incredibly clunky guy who didn't know how to connect with people and had trouble explaining any detail. we're back to hmitt romney 1.0. >> this is ross perot. >> what kind of detail did we have? i'm good, he's bad. i'm sure i've explained it all now. hey, budget solved, budget not solved. how does he think he is going to connect with people? one of the tests for a presidential candidate is, you've got to convince voters that you want this guy, or woman, in your living room for four years. do you want a guy with a white board in your living room for four years? >> a white board is erasable, too, which is a theme of mitt romney's candidacy. jodi, that was a really interesting visual. details on the president's plan, because there is a plan, and just sort of good, solvent, nothing changes from mitt romney which is interesting also insofar as i guess it's a

repudiation of paul ryan's plans because none of the details in paul ryan's plan are apparently part of mitt romney's plan. >> contrast that with the crispness of the obama message. one of the obama spokespeople had an effective line yesterday, said, if you go their way with medicare, older people will be left with nothing but a voucher to protect them. it was almost a visual image of a vulnerable older person standing, you know, naked except for a voucher. >> right. >> and so, you know, democrats have so much experience on this. remember that to some extent this is part two of the fight to privatize social security. the democrats won. and then the economic crisis came and a lot of people said, thank god we didn't privatize social security because look at what happened to people's investments during the economic crisis. in some ways this is poetic justice for obama because he wanted to change health care when he came into office and people said, no, there's too much anxiety out there. people are too scared.

>> right. >> and that's still the way people feel. the notion of radically -- >> overhauling. >> -- overhauling the system is scary. >> what we get away with the clip, people in the obama headquarters smiling with glee how they're going to recycle that image in every ad that comes out. >> we were muttering at low volumes during that. you said that's bain right there. >> that's what a consultant does. down to the jacket off -- not that i should talk -- the jacket off, standing there, we're going to dig into this problem, here's the matrix, here's the "x," here's the "y." i've been in those rooms and it's very -- do back to the campaign at the end of the day. good, good, maybe we'll lose the white board from the next days. because it doesn't connect. and to jodi's point, you have to -- paul is a really smart guy. make tons of complicated decisions when you're doing a budget and dealing with something like medicare and medicaid. it doesn't reduce well.

you need poetry. and i think to your point, the obama campaign is familiar with the language it takes to tell people, be comfortable, here's where we are, here's what they're presenting. once you start getting on the white board, the level of detail that's required to tell the story is a little bit overwhelming. >> that was neither poetic or particularly presidential to my mind. maybe if he used a laser pointer. i don't know. coming up, governor romney's selection of paul ryan may put congressional republicans in a tough spot, linking them to the house budget chair's policy and record, or as vice president joe biden describes it -- >> congressman ryan and the congressional republicans, as one person said, had already passed in the republican house what governor ryan is promising to give the whole nation. so in a sense, folks, it's almost like running against another incumbent, like two incumbents running. >> we will discuss the new red scare on capitol hill next on "now." my cut hurt!

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president was talking about medicare yesterday. i'm excited about this. this is a debate we want to have, this is a debate we need to have, and this is a debate we're going to win. >> that was congressman paul ryan earlier today, trying to gain the upper hand in the fight over medicare. his words came after house speaker john boehner had to soothe worried republicans who were concerned ryan could cost them the election this fall. why? because 228 out of 240 house republicans voted for the very

same policy they are now afraid to embrace. during a conference call yesterday, boehner reportedly told them, "the pundits are buzzing that with paul on the ticket the democrats are going to attack us on medicare. well, here's a news flash. they were going to do that anyway. the best defense on medicare is a good offense. and paul ryan gives us the ability to play offense." vice president biden agrees. republicans cannot etch a sketch the past. >> the ability to take out that etch a sketch pad that governor romney's advisers said, is the etch a sketch is gone. this is sort of written pretty clearly. it's almost not in stone, but it's pretty clearly defined. and it gives us an ability and the american people to have an absolute unfettered clear view. >> an etch a sketch or perhaps a white board? democrats are already laying out that view in a memo to the senate colleagues, chuck schumer writes "the dirty secret about the ryan plan, it inflicts its damage to medicare without

achieving its stated purpose of reducing the debt." in races against republicans, democrats are going on the offensive. >> it's kind of amazing what comes out of allen west's mouth. >> do you support medicare as the way it is now, kiss the united states of america good-bye. >> but even worse is how he voted. to end medicare as we know it, twice. >> richard, i was trying to come up with an appropriate metaphor for what the house republican caucus has been doing for the last two years. all i could come up with, it's like they've been pigging out at the refrigerator at midnight and all of a sudden someone's turning the lights on and they have marshmallow fluff all over them and gained 25 pounds. this is, it is shocking to me that they now are sort of suddenly realizing that votes count and voting records count and it will be used against you or it will be discussed as you run for re-election. >> right. well, especially when you have a vice presidential candidate who champions this stuff. you know, what are they looking at? who are they talking to if they think medicare needs to be the

number one thing to talk about? even if you think you can win, even if you think that the best form of defense is to go on the offense, why would you pick medicare to go and do that on? why not jobs, unemployment? so i don't understand that. and let's just live in the world where you think this is right. you know, bill clinton, the master strategist, had the best formulation of this in 2004, which is, strong and wrong beats weak and right. and right now, what i'm hearing from these republican leaders, is, we're not that confident about this, right? i really want to have this fight, i really want to do this. that's a weak position to be in. so even if you think you are right, you're not projecting strength and that's a problem. >> well, you're getting sort of this high school football coaching from the sidelines in the pages of the "wall street journal" which called the republican bedwetter caucus. those who are afraid to take on medicare. today karl rove writes in the "journal, ft" democrats have long had an issue advantage on medicare. republicans cowered in fear.

the romney/ryan ticket is not only talking about medicare, it is putting mr. obama on the defensive. if republicans succeed, politics will never be the same." i don't know. that white board we just saw did not seem like an offensive strategy unless you're actually laying out football plans. >> two days ago a senior obama official said they were excited about the ryan pick because they think romney is on the defensive and has been on the defensive. this is, as richard said, this is a shift. romney's message wanted to be jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. we're now in late august and having a medicare debate. this is where the democrats want to be. >> the other thing is -- if we're talking about the sum total of paul ryan and his presence on capitol hill, and the votes of the republican caucus has taken and the fact they're going to have to stand behind them, let's talk about those, the policy that has been put forward and voted on. there's, of course, the ryan budget plan, the repeal of the affordable care act which has happened so many times i lost count. the national right to carry which allows people with concealed weapons permits in

their home state to carry weapons in any other state. protect life act, prohibits women from buying health insurance plans that covers abortions. federal use of funds for abortions. and, of course, a bill blocking funding to npr affiliates. >> yeah, i think what you're pointing out is when you have divided government it's easy for members of the house to make votes as risk-free choices. hey, we're -- it's not going to go through, we might as well put our names behind it because right now we believe in it. actually the bill does come due. what ryan has done -- romney had been very cagey in staying away from those issues because he knew he had a real base that was compromise. when you get ryan in there, it suddenly brings that all back into play and i think boehner is right to say, okay, we have to rally around here, we're going to have to go on offense because we're going to get killed on some of these votes if we're not careful about it. so whether we're using the sort of -- whatever metaphor we prefer, the marshmallow fluff -- >> eating cookie dough at

midnight. which is what they've been doing. i think it's stunning it's dawned on them that's perhaps not the best way to legislate. i wonder if there will be wagon circling if, in fact, romney and ryan lose because of all of this and that the tea party caucus or the republican caucus, whichever term you prefer, says, hey, you know, that wasn't a good call and maybe we should focus on the business moving the country forward. remains to be seen. it's worth noting the republi n republicans currently hold 33 seats that are considered either lean or tossup. we'll see what happens to those seats. in november. we will be moving on after the break. governor romney has pledged his affinity for bipartisan budget fixing prescriptions known as bowles/simpson and several prominent republicans including senator lindsey graham feel the same way. >> both candidates should pledge, if i get to be president of the united states, we're going to do bowles/simpson. that's what america a yearning

for. i want both candidates to step up to the plate and lead here and not the political stuff. >> neither one of them has to your -- >> i think governor romney said he would support bowles/simpson. >> the problem for governor romney is his running mate rejected bowles/simpson. just what is paul ryan's fiscal plan? cnbc's andrew ross sorkin will guide us ahead on "now." time for the "your business" entrepreneurs of the week. the driving force behind the new york-based family owned business known for its maza. they say the key to their success is not changing how their product is made. they bake and pack them the same way it's been done for nearly a century. for more, watch "your business" sunday morning at 7:30 on msnbc. there are a lot of warning lights

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some people think steak is only meant for special occasions. well who said breakfast. on a tuesday. can't be special. get that great taste anytime. with kingsford match light charcoal governor mitt romney has praised the bowles/simpson plan on multiple occasions that includes a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. the plan was favored by wall street bankers and leading republicans including jeb bush and senator lindsey graham. who didn't support it? congressman paul ryaryan. >> i appreciate the sincerity and the bipartisanship nature of this but i just don't think the substance of this bill is right. i think it's going to worsen our

fiscal situation. >> not only didn't he support bowles/simpson, when he was on the deficit reduction committee, ryan was the key vote in blocking it from taking effect. when it comes to issues wall street supports the limited government ryan may not be the same best present wall street has in romney. joining us now, cnbc "squawk box" co-host, "the new york times" columnist, author of too big to fail, father of twins, the highly unproductive andrew ross sorkin. you had a great piece the other day talking about paul ryan and wall street and where he stands on key concerns among wall streeters. we've been talking a lot about bowles/simpson. he has a position that differs -- >> there's a couple points. first in terms of business writ large, the business community constantly talks about simpson/bowles. ryan's against it. frankly, obama's against it. frankly, romney's against it. i mean, romney will say he likes

the concept of it, but when you get into the details, obama will say he likes the concept when you get into the details. the problem with simpson/bowles, everyone thinks in concept it's good. if there was an up or down vote today and people read it, not just a sin ynopsis, but the who thing, there are too many things that offend people on both sides. >> northeast of the apprehension is because god forbid a republican should sign off on something that raises taxes. >> i think that's part of it. god forbid, a democrat would argue you're killing medicare, medicaid, what have you. but that's the point of it. which is that it only works because everybody loses in some respects and that's the win. >> right. but paul ryan's objection to it seems to be beyond just partisan politics and third-rail issues. it's, i don't think it's severe enough. i don't think it -- >> two things from what i understand. he thinks it's not severe enough on the health care side and he thinks it's going to raise money

which, if you sign grover norquist, you can't do. so you have a problem. >> what does -- i guess the question -- is wall street -- wall street seems enamored of mitt romney. >> they like mitt romney. >> or have a significant distaste for the president. does paul ryan change their calculation at all? >> not really. other piece of it, ryan, while against, by the way, sort of the big bank theory, he signed off on glass siegel, now says he he's -- i want to break up banks which doesn't go to the free markets thing so there's the complication there. in particular, ryan says he wants to privatize social security. that would be great for wall street. for the most part i would say wall street likes him. i don't think they've really read and totally understand everything that he's said. there are pieces of dodd/frank, for example, he wants to repeal that wall street and actually democrats and republicans like which is this idea of getting rid of too big to fail.

>> right. >> he oddly -- i don't know if it's odd or not. >> the book would remain. he wants to keep the book, the movie. there was a provision in dodd/frank that would allow you to dismantle the failing banks. he wants to get rid of that. he says that, in fact, make it more likely we'll bail out banks in the future. >> one thing wall street is aware of, in the ryan budget, look at flat tax proposals and medicare proposal, that's a lot of money off the table. when he talked about removing all those deductions, those deductions were put in place so rich people can keep their money. >> right. >> i think there is some ease without knowing the full scoring of that budget, how long it would play out. where you're taking money that people invest off the table and to cover those medicare costs, you're becauasically presuming people are going to take put of 401(k), out of savings. >> it's an austerity element. his budget might be described as

>> as we talk about mitt romney being an empty vessel, and there has been a suggest that if paul ryan is his vp, he will play a very substantial and very influential role in terms of crafting fiscal policy and clearly has some very real ideas about it. >> yeah, look, the problem with mitt romney's position is that if you try and pass his comments and figure out what they mean for the budget, he is both for bowles/simpson and also for huge tax cuts across the board. so is paul ryan. if you want to be a fiscal hawk, you want to balance the budget, you can't do both. there's a contradiction here. just to shift the conversation back it oto our wall street exp, there's a contradiction on wall street, too. you hear all these wall street guys saying we hate the administration, we think that policies are disaster. we're heading on this fiscal cliff and the country's going bankrupt. but if you look at how the bond markets are valuing u.s. treasuries, none of that's true,

because borrowing costs for the united states government are at a historically low rate which means a huge degree of confidence in the u.s. government. so how do we square people talking about how awful this administration is and yet putting their money into the very paper that's issued by the -- >> and ultimately not doing too padly. >> it's the great paradox of the vote. >>, kuz me? >> i think they're genuinely offended. >> they are. it's more about the rhetoric than the actual policy. >> the rhetoric is self-serving. i don't think there's a paradox there. the rhetoric adds up to, this is going to be a better case for me. the notion that it's paradoxical, not to the people that are saying it, makes total sense to them. i don't think they're insincere. from their own point of view they feel attacked. they want someone like romney to restore honor to their careers. >> what the president has done as far as i'm concerned, he does one thing on policy which is generally do be nice to wall street and business, for the

most part, and then out of the other side of this mouth because his constituents with not so happy, he says you're a fat cat. it's the fat cat thing -- you know, look, whether you're a billionaire or have a dollar to your name, you want to be loved. that's what's happening here. >> go ahead, jodi. >> sorry, i was going to say, this also adds to all the questions we've been talking about about what is the republican party, what does it really stand for? sometimes there's this kind of fiction that anger toward the banks is just on the left. it's not. we see so much on the right as well. that's part of what ryan is reflecting and that's been a very hard problem for the administration to solve and if romney is elected, it's not really going to be that much easier for him. >> practically speaking, who drove the country nearly off of a fiscal cliff if we're talking about defaulting on our loans? it's the house republicans. >> by the way, rye wran was rig there. we had him on "squawk box" and he specifically said i am

prepared -- i will win and score points in terms of what they were trying to do against the democrats. that i think to some people on wall street is truly scary. >> that's sound we should be replaying on the show. andrew ross sorkin. always a pleasure to have you on this program. thank you for your time. see him every morning on cnbc's squawk box" and read excellent writings in "the new york times." next, "time's" michael scherer takes us through democracy 2.0 and shows us the future of campaigning. if there was a pill

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the president has 21 times as many followers as governor romney on twitter. and more than six times as many followers on facebook. during a two-week period in june, pew found the obama campaign posted 29 messages online a da while romney's campaign averaged just a single post. in a new issue of "time" magazine devoted to mobile technology, michael scherer writes about a smartphone app obama volunteers are now using. suddenly election workers are looking at a google map of the neighborhood around them. with a little blue flag at each house where the obama campaign wants a door knocked. the phones prompt volunteers to report back to the main database, how the door knocking went, recording each household as a committed voter, undecided one or a foe of the president, so future campaign communications like direct mail can be targeted. joining us now from washington is "time" correspondent, our man in d.c., the man with all the answers, michael scherer. always great to see you, michael. >> good to see you, alex. >> so we've talked a lot about technology and team obama's harnessing of new technology. i was impressed with the

sophistication of this app in particular given the contrast of mitt romney's vp app, where people were to get an early nod on who the vice presidential pick was and the romney campaign undermined the entire app by leaking the news early. tell us about the sophistication going on over there in kmaug. >> 2008 was sort of revolutionary. we had social media coming into the campaign for the first time, a lot of people organizing online, giving lots of money online, but all that was done through the desktop. we're starting to see moving that from the computer you have at home to the phone. there's geographic potential which is what we see in the app you just described. any voter now, any supporter of the president can download the app if they have a smartphone, go to any neighborhood they're in a swing state, type in the app and they'll be told where to go, they'll be given scripts. they can do it all. it's synced live to vote

builder, the database. one of the secrets of the coulding from home application that they had in 2008, a lot of people were making phone calls through the campaign website, is that was a separate database. so the data wasn't really good. a lot of the phone calls weren't being made to the numbers they really needed it to be made and there wasn't good recording of when those calls had been made and it wasn't local people making the calls. that's solved with this app. you also have other things the obama campaign is doing that are really interesting. probably the biggest impact in terms of fund-raising in new technology this cycle will be something called quick donate which the obama campaign has which allows people to have given to the campaign to type in a number a text message then automatically their credit cards are deducted of that amount. so during the convention speeches, a lot of obama supporters are going to get text messages on their phones saying weren't you just impressed with michelle obama or joe biden or barack obama? give us 10 more bucks. all they have to write in 1, 0 and that money will be automatically deducted from their credit card. and that's going to have huge potential. i mean, you don't have to write

in your credit card information again or do anything like that. just write in the digits on your phone. >> i want to open this up to our folks here in new york. richard and josh. the question is, sort of does this translate into votes? i thought it was interesting, "usa today"/suffolk university poll, unregistered voters going for obama 43%. unlikely voters, obama gets 43% of the vote. team obama has made a clear calculation, getting people involved in the process, is going to ultimately swing disproportionately toward team obama. i wonder to what degree you guys are surprised that this kind of -- the adoption of new technology seems to be much more left than right insofar as the level of granular detail as michael explains, sort of pioneering applications. we're not seeing that out of the gop. mitt romney seems to be running more of a traditional campaign. >> look, there's a marked reason. those numbers tell you the story. democrats really feel like they

can win and win consistently and win with safe margins, if they can actually just get people to vote. and so there's a market need there. i don't think that the gop feels that it has the same, you know, force, the same requirements to get out there and develop technology, to meet that need. >> you know, it's not true that romney campaign are the not doing it. they are buying this technology off the shelf, and that means it's not proprietary, it's not tailored to what they need, it's not single focus and that's the big bet. the big investment that chicago has made with all of this stuff. you know, when they set out to win iowa in 2007/2008, they said if we build it right from the beginning we won't have to add bits to it later as we grow and throw in people on the street who don't know the districts or the towns that they're working in. it's the same principle, but actually built nationwide and with technology. does it add five points to the final result? no, but in a one or two-point race it might give you one or

two points and that's where i think the money comes into play. >> michael, you know, one sort of strategist i talked to said, look, the reason romney's so -- that obama is so much further ahead on this tech stuff is he had the time during the primary season to figure this out. this seems like a long-term game. during the administration, they've been pioneering the tech stuff. >> there are two things. bush had a big advantage in 2004 because he was an incumbent re-elect. i think if the whole situation was flipped around a republican campaign would be much better prepared if they didn't have to go through the primary that had been funded well from the beginning. the other thing, romney is not this kind of candidate, not the guy that gets people motivated to go out on the street and go door to door to get by themselves, to download and app then decide to go knock on doors basically without any other contact with the campaign at all. he's just not that kind of candidate, and they're not running that kind of race. they're running a race that's really, you know, pushing big top-line messages. they're going to have a lot of tv spending and try and get people to the polls. i think what is clear is that in

2016, in 2020, from here on out, this sort of technology is only going to grow. four years from now this won't seem new. you'll have midterms where candidates have used this sort of technology and people involved in politics will see it as second nature that your phone is really an extension of your political personality, of your ability to influence elections. you'll be giving money on it, you'll be volunteering on it, making phone calls on it. this is just the way it's going to be. >> "time's" michael scherer. thank you as always. a great and fas nigcinating rea the magazine this week. wikileaks' founder julian assange has a ticket to ride to ecuador. we'll talk wikiscape next in "what now." [ male announcer ] in a world where breakfast has become boring and tasteless... only one man can save the day... ♪ with his sweet and nutty, sweet and nutty crunchy nut ♪ delicious!

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welcome back. time for "what now." arizona governor jan brewer has

issued an executive order that denies benefits to immigrants who qualify for deportation deferrals and work permits, under the obama administration's new amnesty policy. are we surprised that jan brewer, michael hastings, wants to make life difficult for immigrants seeking amnesty in this country? >> no, not at all. and i think obviously it's a politically effective issue for president obama to run on. and jan brewer's position on immigration is well known and going to do what she feels best for her local elections. >> this is equivalent of a policy finger wag in the administration's face, although i think much of the country, i think there were 13,000 people lined up in chicago yesterday to get their applications of volunteer centers. >> they're expecting 800,000 for this new immigration program, too. >> yeah, and i have to wonder how happy governor brewer's party is with her, because the optics were so good for the administration. these photographs of long lines of young people who have been caught in this gray area immigration wise, they just want to be here. it's a very patriotic statement.

>> speaking of patriotic statements or not, ecuador granted political asylum to julian assange, founder of wikile wikileaks. he faces questions over sexual assault claims. richard, the british government will not allow assange safe passage to ecuador. >> yes, one small problem, he has to get to the ecuadorian embassy to ecuador without getting arrested first. even for julian assange that's tricky. >> maybe if a bunch of people dress up as julian assange. >> or dig a tunnel. >> or dig a tunnel. or teleporting. >> two years assange has been isolated and under house arrest. it's a tragedy. free assange. >> thanks again to richard, michael, jodi. i'm headed west, tomorrow evening. ari melber is in for me

tomorrow. he'll be joined by e.j. dionne. follow us on twitter rea mitche next. coming up here, mitt romney pulls out his white board and talks about taxes. the white house reacts to john mccain's suggestion for a change in the ticket. a deadly day for americans in afghanistan. we'll have the latest, next. [ male announcer ] what's in your energy drink? ♪ power surge, let it blow your mind. [ male announcer ] for fruits, veggies and natural green tea energy... new v8 v-fusion plus energy. could've had a v8. thor's couture gets the most rewards of any small business credit card. your boa! [ garth ] thor's small business earns double miles on every purchase, every day!

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some people think steak is only meant for special occasions. well who said breakfast. on a tuesday. can't be special. get that great taste anytime. with kingsford match light charcoal right now on "andrea mitchell reports" professor romney pulling out that whiteboard in south carolina today to make his points on medicare. >> the differences in our medicare perspective could not be more stark and dramatic and i think as the people, as the seniors in america understand what the president's plan is doing to medicare, they're going to find it unacceptable and we're going to get a lot of support from people who understand that medicare should be protected for current seniors as well as for the next generation. while paul ryan hammered president obama in ohio.